Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
by Hikari Kurokaze
Summary: Kate, a thirteen-year-old brunette from Fiore just moved to Almia to become a Pokemon Ranger. She's head-strong, stubborn, and yet a shy girl when it's called for. She get's into her new school, prepared, but definitely not ready for what's ahead.
1. Chapter 1

**Hikari-YAY! My first Fanfiction and it's first chapter on up and done!**

**Mizu-Err, Please enjoy. By the way, (disclaimer) Hika-chan doesn't own Pokemon or Pokemon Ranger.**

* * *

><p><strong>Shadows of Almia - Chapter 1<strong>

I stared at the styler in my hands. Professor Kaplan had said to use it to capture the Pikachu. I knew I could do it, I was just too nervous. I gulped and looked at the Pikachu staring back at me. I took the school styler into a firm grip and held it up. I clicked the button on the side that unleashed the whip. "Capture on!" I screamed out. I clicked the other button and the disc went flying toward the Pikachu. I put on my serious face and did like I practiced. I didn't come here from Fiore for nothing.

I started motioning my hand around in front of my body in a circle-like motion, and the disc followed it, but circled around the Pikachu. The styler whip started glowing blue, creating a giant glowing blue halo. I hit the halo with the glowing whip and it surrounded the Pikachu. "Capture complete!" I said. The halo shrunk into the Pikachu and left a sparkle surrounding it.

Pikachu smiled and said, "Chu!" I grinned from ear to ear. I was in the Ranger School. My trip from Fiore to Almia wasn't for nothing. The disc quickly returned back to its slot in my school styler. I looked at Kaplan. He was a tall, goofy kind of guy with light brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a blue long sleeved shirt under a sleeveless dark blue jacket with yellow lining. He had baggy jeans on and matching sneakers.

"Nice job Kate." He smiled a like an idiot. "Thanks professor." I smiled back. "So now I'm officially part of the school?" I asked. "Yes," said a voice. I turned around to see two women standing at the door. One was wearing matching attire to Kaplan, except her sleeves for her shirt were up to her elbows and she had shorts. She had the same brown hair but had blue eyes. The other lady was wearing a teal colored skirt and a pink sleeveless shirt.

"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Ms. Claire." The lady in the matching clothes said with a smile. She walked over to me happily with the red-head following behind her. "Good morning, I'll be your teacher, Ms. April." The red-head smiled at me with her sparkling green eyes. I smiled back. "I hope to have a great time here." I said.

"Well, we'll see you later, because you need to get to class," said Ms. Claire. Ms. April nodded. "C'mon, I'll show you to the classroom." She started walking out the door as I followed. We we're outside of the Ranger School. We walked through the lush green grass as some Pokemon walked away. We entered the main school building and Ms. April entered her classroom. She told me to wait outside and come in when she said so, so I just waited.

"Good morning, class!" said Ms. April. "Good morning!" responded the class of thirteen-year-olds. "We have a new student today." Ms. April continued. Every face in the classroom lit up. "Is it a boy or a girl?" "Do they look like a movie star?" asked many kids. "Are they cute?"

"Quiet down, and find out for yourself." Ms. April said, motioning toward the door. I opened it and walked through to where my new teacher was standing. "Hi. I'm Kate." I announced. I looked around the classroom. All the boys were looking bored or were gazing at me with red cheeks.

Except for one of them, he had dark red spiky hair and short bangs that nearly reached his eyes. Instead, he had this foolish grin on his face. The girls were all welcoming me with a smile, especially this one girl who had sparkly blonde hair. Her smile was brilliant and she looked like she smiled a lot.

"You may take your seat next to Keith." Ms. April said. She motioned her hand to the boy who was grinning in an evil way. I walked over to the chair next to him and sat down. "Now, you may acquaintance with the new student and Rythmi, will you please give Kate a tour?" asked Ms. April. The girl with the blonde hair smiled. "Of course."

"Thank you. Now if you will, I have a meeting to attend." Ms. April sighed as she exited the room. Suddenly, everyone got out of their chairs and surrounded me. Rythmi and Keith were standing by my sides. "Well, what's your name? Anyways, how long did it take you to capture the Pikachu? Like an hour?" asked Keith. I glared at him, "Three minutes." He recoiled, biting his lip, red pulling on his cheeks.

"Don't mind him, he's always like that." Rythmi popped up. "Nice to meet you." She outstretched her hand. I shook it. "Pleasure," I smiled. "So, uh, can I get the grand tour?" I asked sheepishly. Rythmi nodded and we exited the room with smiles. Keith smiled like a fool. "She's gonna be a _great_ rival," he said to himself.

* * *

><p><strong>Hika-chan-Hmmn, that wasn't long enough...*sob*<strong>

**Mizu-Don't worry about it, Hika-chan.*pets head*  
><strong>

**Keith-I'm a go get a soda. *walks away***

**Hika-chan-Bring me one or you shall suffer! *Throws magic boomerang***

**Keith-*Gets hit with boomerang* Fine, fine! Gosh!  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Kate-Hika-chan doesn't own Pokemon or Pokemon Ranger.**

**Hika-chan-*In emo corner growing mushrooms* I didn't win the case...*sobs***

**Rythmi-She doesn't own the emo corner either, or the growing of mushrooms from Tamaki-senpai.**

**Mizu-Enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Rythmi and I walked out of the classroom and I leaned against the wall. "Whew." I sighed. I didn't really like my personality much sometimes. "What's wrong?" asked Rythmi. "I want to make friends with everyone and not be known as 'that girl'. Rythmi turned and put her hands on her hips. "You were like that back in Fiore?" she asked.<p>

"Well, yeah. It started in first grade, when I transferred classes. When I was introducing myself, this one kid wasn't paying attention-and I need people to pay attention when I'm talking-so I knocked him upside the head with that same glare." I explained in a breath. "Whoa, that must've been rough." Rythmi smiled. "But, its okay, you're at a new place, so there are new people," she said as she walked toward me.

She reached for my cheeks and started pulling on them. "So wipe that frown off your face!" she exclaimed. I pulled off Rythmi's grabby fingers from my cheeks and rubbed my face. "Ouch," I whined. I looked at the door that led to outside. I loved it out there. "Can we go outside first?" I asked. Rythmi shook her head, "Not unless the bell rings."

I sighed and smiled. "Okay, then let's go upstairs first!" We walked up the stairs as I wondered what the basement was like, as its staircase was right next to the stairs to the second floor. "This is where we settle down, coed style." Rythmi smiled as she held out her arms.

"Oh, hi Rythmi," said a voice. I whirled around to one of the large eating tables, the one that was closest to the door that said GIRLS' DORM on the door, and saw a beautiful lady with short brown hair cut to her shoulders. She had a pink dress on that cut down to her ankles and wore an apron over it. She was holding a pen in her hand and was writing something.

"Oh, hi, Janice!" Rythmi exclaimed. "This is Kate, she's a new student here and I'm giving her a tour," she explained. "Oh, well nice to meet you, I'm Janice, the caretaker here." Janice smiled politely. Rythmi whispered in my ear, "She's like a mom to all of us, but if someone does something really bad, she'll practically blow up. She's even worse than Ms. April."

I gulped, but smiled at the nice lady who would end up acting as my motherly figure while I was here. We walked back down the stairs and walked over to the room on the right, which was the library. It was huge, with shelves lining two of the walls, and chairs, a few tables, and even some couches set up for reading. In the back was a boy with mushroom-cut blonde hair. He wore a lab coat.

Rythmi told me that was Isaac. "He gets to skip class sometimes because he's the smartest in the school." Rythmi told me. She introduced us and then we went to the room on the opposite side, the teacher's meeting room. I finally got to meet my new principal, Principal Lamont. He always smiled in the time I've seen him. As we left, I noticed Ms. April sitting down in a chair drinking coffee.

Guess she just wanted a break.

Next, we headed to the classroom next to ours. When I entered, I saw everyone working on papers and smelled a strong scent of hair spray. I looked up to the teacher's desk to see a man with blonde hair in a huge curl. "That's Mr. Kincaid. He's a real pain. 'Don't run in the hallway' is like his motto. Plus, he uses five bottles of spray a day to get his hair that way." Rythmi explained. He glared at me as he just noticed that we were in there.

"This is our new student, Kate." Rythmi introduced. "Yes…Yes…" he muttered. "Well, don't run in the hallways." I sweatdropped and Rythmi and I walked out of the room with a laugh. "Hey, can we go down into the basement?" I asked, recovering from the moment. "Nope, that's Kincaid's lab, so, you get the point." Rythmi said.

Yeah, I did get it. Then the bell rang. A huge smiled spread across my face and I jumped out the door as Rythmi held it open for me. I ran around like an idiot in circles. "Kate, can we get moving?" Rythmi asked me, a sweatdrop coming on. I smiled sheepishly. "S-Sure." She took me to where I captured the Pikachu and introduced me properly to Professor Kaplan and Ms. Claire.

They gave me a quick lesson on capturing and clearing targets, just in case. Once we got back outside, though, all hell was being released. Rythmi and I watched as a bunch of Bidoof fled around the school grounds, Janice in the middle of it all. We ran over to her. "Janice, what's up with the Bidoof?" I asked. "I accidentally stepped on their leader's tail, and everyone got angry and started running around." Janice explained.

"So this is what's going on!" said a familiar voice. I turned to the doors to see Keith examining the place. "Say, girl, how 'bout a challenge? Whoever captures the most Bidoof wins?" he asked with a wild grin. I liked his offer, plus we would help Janice get the Bidoof back in order. "Kate isn't—!" Rythmi started, but I cut her off saying, "Sounds good to me!" I grabbed my styler, and pointed it out. "Three!" I announced. "Two!" said Keith. "One!" "CAPTURE ON!"

The capture discs went flying around the front of the school. I quickly captured four Bidoof without a problem, but when I looked around for another, there were none. The contest was over. I stashed my styler away into its regular belt pocket and met up with Rythmi, Janice, and Keith in the middle of the yard. I looked at the Bidoof that Keith had captured. I counted them in my mind. Five. He captured FIVE BIDOOF!

I made sure I didn't blow up and took a deep breath. Keith was counting up his Bidoof and cheered. "I win!" he said as he blew at his styler as if he just shot a gun. "I got five Bidoof, and you only got four." He triumphed.

Rythmi face palmed. "Well, good for you…?" Janice wondered if she should have even said with a sweatdrop. "Thank you, though! Those were amazing captures. I'll leave you extra dessert tonight." She winked and walked away with the now happy Bidoof trotting behind her.

I held out my hand to Keith. He stared. "What?" he asked. I can't believe how stupid this boy is. "Shake, that was a nice contest." I said to him. He looked at my hand, then back to me, and then to his hand. "Fine, I guess. Hey, and your actually pretty good at doing captures." He complimented me.

"Well, now that that's done, I want to show you one more place, Kate." Rythmi sighed. "Wait, you mean Ascension Square?" Keith asked. Rythmi nodded. "Then I'll come to," he added. Rythmi glared at him in surprise. "Do what you want." Rythmi said. She grabbed my hand and led me down a stairway that was to the left of the yard.

When we got down the stairs, I stared at what I saw. There was a huge stone statue in the middle of a small field. There was a small wooden dock by the sea. The statue was of the ranger's symbol: a capture disc. "Wow." I muttered. "Nice right? Well, that's the end of Rythmi's awesome tour." Rythmi ended with a smile.

She turned to me. "So, Kate, want to be friends?" asked Rythmi. She held out her hand to me. I watched, surprised. Keith heard this and turned away from the statue and to me. "No, be friends with me Kate." Keith piped in. I stared at them both, not knowing what to do, my shyness leaking out.

I started pacing around, trying to think about what to do. Then, I stumbled on a rock. "Kate!" Keith said. He grabbed one arm and Rythmi grabbed my other and prevented me from falling. I made up my mind. "Can't you both just be my friends?" I asked. Keith and Rythmi looked at each other, than to me. "Fine." They said in sync with a smile. I was pulled back up and we all started laughing. I don't know why, but we started laughing.

I predicted that we would be a strange group.

Our laughing was broken by the sound of the bell ringing. "We better get back to class or else Kincaid's gonna catch us!" Rythmi exclaimed. We started running for the stairs when I heard Rythmi add in, "But, boy oh boy Keith! Aren't you the slick one." I snickered and kept on running so Mr. Kincaid wouldn't catch us in the halls and give us a detention.

After that, during the night, Rythmi and I were sitting on our bunk bed in the girls dormitory. I was on the lower bed when Rythmi looked down, as she had the top bunk. "What 'ya doing?" she asked. I looked up at her. I had a pen in my hands and a pink notepad. "Writing a letter for my little sister. It's about what happened today," I smiled at her.

"Really? I already wrote to my parents about you, Kate!" Rythmi exclaimed. "I bet Keith has too!" I smiled again and put my notepad and pen under my pillow and sighed. Rythmi started looking around the dorm, and whispered down to me, "Say, let's sneak out for a while." I looked at her, astonished.

She was my friend though, so I trusted her. We got out of our bunk bed and put on our uniform jacket. We walked out and I noticed that the girls inside the dorm were looking at me with cheerful smiles. Plus, I noticed that only two of the girls were in the room, not including me and Rythmi.

When we exited, I saw six boys, including Keith, and four girls waiting for us in front of the table closest to the girls' dormitory. "What's this?" I asked. "This is the test of courage. It's what starts off every new student's school life." Keith said with a grin. "Four of us hid our stylers around the school, and you have to find them. After that, you take all four and put them in the basement." Rythmi said to do.

"And you get someone to go with you, which is who ever sits next to you in class." Rythmi added slyly. Everyone started staring at Keith. He gulped as a sweatdrop appeared on his head. "Crap, that's me." He sighed.

"Okay the two of you, off you go!" Rythmi exclaimed in a shushed voice. I sighed and walked down the stairs, Keith following me. When we got to the first floor, it was dark. Really dark. So dark I couldn't see. I started feeling around for Keith, but I couldn't find him. I was about to call out his name when…

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

I turned to where I heard Keith scream. "Shh!" I said, finding him and covering his mouth. I struggled to keep his mouth shut as he kept on pulling at my hand, so I had to cling to him. Finally, he bit my hand. "Ghost," he whimpered. I looked around and tried spotting something in the darkness. I saw a faint shape of a Bidoof and chuckled. "It's a Bidoof, stupid." I said into his ear.

He turned to my face and I could feel his cheeks radiating warmth, probably because it was cold. "Uh, could you let go of me?" he asked. Then I realized that we were really close and I still had my arm on his shoulder. I didn't really mind though, but it was kind of uncomfortable.

So, I moved away from him and looked around, even though I couldn't see anything. "Where do we go first?" I asked. "How 'bout our classroom?" Keith suggested. We walked to our classroom, and on the way I felt the Bidoof brush against my leg as we walked. I ignored it and kept going. I clicked the button that took out the glowing styler whip on my styler and used it as a light to open the door.

Inside the classroom, there were a bunch of boxes everywhere. I knew the styler had to be in the box. Then I remember what Ms. Claire had taught me, about clearing a target. "Wait here." I said to Keith. "Wait-!" he called. But I had already walked out the room. He sweatdropped.

I exited and turned to where I though the Bidoof was. "Here, Bidoof! Here!" I called out in a whisper. Then, I heard the scuttling of paws and felt the soft fur of the Bidoof against my foot. That was when I realized that I didn't have any shoes on.

I was wearing my night gown and my uniform jacket. I was holding my styler the whole time. I sweatdropped. "Well, this is embarrassing…" I muttered. Then, I crouched down to pet the Bidoof. "Will you let me capture you so I can do some jobs?" I asked politely. The Bidoof automatically nodded, so I stood back up and readied myself.

I pointed my styler out and said "Capture on!" I clicked the button and the disc went flying. Within seconds, I had captured the Bidoof. I ran back to the classroom and saw Keith waiting for me at my desk. He saw the Bidoof and smiled. Then, I started clearing the targets. Inside the boxes I found a few Pichu, a box of cookies (which we ate), and a school styler.

"That's mine!" Keith exclaimed. He grabbed his styler from the ground and clipped it back onto his belt. Then, he noticed I was in my night gown."Why are you wearing your night gown?" he asked. "Well, Rythmi just said to sneak out, so we grabbed our jackets and left." I said, not seeing why he had a problem with it, probably was weird to see your friend in her pj's.

Next we headed to Kincaid's room and quickly found the styler that was on a counter. Then, we headed to the library and I got Rythmi's styler that was at the last table. Last, we went to get the last styler, which was strung around a running Pichu's neck. It took me a while to get it, and Keith ended up helping me a lot.

But afterwards, we received the last styler and headed down the stairs to the basement. It was even darker down there, if that was even possible. We headed down a small hallway and took a turn to the right when Keith asked me if I had heard something. I shook my head no, even though he couldn't see that.

"No," I said. "Hearing ghost again?" I added in, figuring he was afraid of them. "N-No!" he stuttered. I smiled and continued my test. I saw a door and decided to place the stylers there. I put them there gently and asked Keith for his. When I finished putting them down, Keith sighed, "Finally, let's get outta here!"

We just started moving when Keith was hit on the head with a small cardboard box. We whirled around, Keith holding his head. What we saw was a bunch of Gastly (four to be exact) coming toward us. I put my styler in front of me and clicked the button that sent the disc flying out. "CAPTURE ON!"

I quickly started circling around the Pokemon, but every so often, they would disappear from our sight and reappear. It took a while, but I managed after about five minutes. I panted and turned to Keith, showing a face that said, "that took a lot of work."

"Sorry I couldn't help," he whispered to me. I smiled. Then, the door slammed open, and the four stylers went flying to the side. "Who's down here?" he asked loudly. He spotted me and Keith over in the bend between the halls. "You two!" he yelled. I grabbed at the four stylers and Keith grabbed my hand as we started running back upstairs.

Kincaid stepped back into his lab and asked, "How's it going, Isaac?" "Almost done, Mr. Kincaid." Isaac yawned in reply. "Why don't you go get some rest and we'll finish up tomorrow?" suggested Kincaid, acting nice. "Thank you. Good night."Isaac said as he left the room.

BACK UPSTAIRS

Keith and I were sitting on the floor and the stylers were all cramped into my left hand. Keith's hand was resting on mine, and we were panting. "What happened?" asked Rythmi with a worried look. "When we…got downstairs…there were a bunch of Gastly…and then Kincaid came out of his lab," I panted. "Kate grabbed the stylers…and we were outta there." Keith ended.

I held up the four stylers and everyone grabbed theirs. I got up and felt Keith's hand fall off mine. I looked toward the staircase while everyone else was looking at Keith. "Hey, Keith, why's you face all red?" asked Ponte. "I'm hot! That's all!" Keith gasped.

Then, I heard footsteps. Rythmi opened her eyes wide. "Everyone hide!" she slithered. "It might be Kincaid!" I looked around as everybody dispersed. I went under the table where a lot of chairs blocked all sight of me. Then I heard a voice, "Huh, I thought I heard Rythmi's voice." Isaac said.

I sighed and started getting up from my spot under the table. "Hey, Kate!" Isaac said as he spotted me. He walked over to me and helped me up. "What're you doing down there?" he asked. I smiled sheepishly as I rubbed the back of my head. "H-Hiding." I said. "From…?" Isaac continued.

"We thought you were Kincaid coming up, so we hid. We were just finishing up Kate's test of courage." Rythmi explained as she came out from behind a curtain. "Oh, so it went all right?" Isaac asked happily. "Who did you go with?" "K-Keith. I went with him. He sits next to me." I explained.

Isaac laughed. "I bet he was scared." I nodded, trying to stifle my laugh. "Stop laughing about me!" Keith finally said as he got out of a cabinet with the help of Ponte. I looked at him apologetically with my blue eyes. "Sorry, Keith, but it's true." I stifled remembering the incident with the Bidoof.

Keith grumbled away into the boys' dormitory angrily as red flushed his cheeks. I looked at him, wondering why he kept doing that. "Well, good night!" I called after him with a smile. I turned back to everyone else. "Thanks guys, it was really fun. Good night." I said. After that, we all dispersed back into our dorms.

While everyone else was sleeping in the whole building, I was still awake. And wide awake at that. "Hey, Rythmi?" I whispered into the darkness. "Yeah?" she asked as she bent over to take a peek at me. "Why was Keith so grouchy earlier when Isaac came?" I asked.

"He and Isaac didn't really get along too well at the beginning of the year. Keith blew up his styler in Isaac's face, and Isaac shocked him back with the help of the recharge by the stairs." Rythmi explained holding back a snicker. I smiled. "I bet that's what made his hair so spiky." I whispered with a laugh. "Actually, it made his hair even spikier!" Rythmi added with a smile.

"But, he did act a little different today. Usually, he would-just at the sight of Isaac-start yelling at him." Rythmi said. I pondered in my mind for a while. "Well, how 'bout we get some sleep. Tomorrow, we have work to do." I said, thinking we would be doing math equations. "Well, think what you want. Good night." said Rythmi as she put her head back to her pillow. I turned my body to the side and half my face was stuffed in the pillow.

'Maybe he acted differently because he was still scared from the Bidoof?" I thought. I fell asleep with a smile on my face that night.

The next morning, I realized that I had woken up late. I was supposed to wake up at seven, and it was already seven thirty. I quickly got up, changed into my uniform and headed down the stairs in a hurry. When I got to my classroom, I put my ear to the door to hear what was going on.

Ms. April was asking the class if they knew what today was. and they replied "OUTDOOR CLASS!" I wondered what it was, and as the door opened, I quickly stepped to the side to be unknown by the kids in my class and Ms. April. When I saw Keith and Rythmi come out last, I met up with them. I had just appeared in front of them, and they got scared.

That made the three of us go crashing down. First I fell, Keith landed on me being across my body., and Rythmi sat on top. I squirmed to get up. "Rythmi! Get up!" I complained. "Fine, fine. Don't get your knickers in a twist." she said as she arose. I saw Keith's face turn red and he immediately turned away from he as he got up.

Finally, I got up and dusted my uniform off with my hands. "Oi, let's hurry up!" Keith said, remembering today was outdoor class. We started running to Ascension Square when I asked, "What's outdoor class?" Rythmi and Keith looked back at me unbelievably.

"All the more reason to get there faster!" Rythmi said to Keith with a smile as she started running faster. We stumbled down the stairs right on time. There stood a man in a red ranger uniform with a gangly and HUGE afro. "I'm Ranger Crawford!" he introduced loudly.

* * *

><p><strong>Hika-chan- Er, I hoped you all liked that one! *rubs hands together maliciously*<strong>

**Rythmi and Keith-*stares angrily with mouth wide open***

**Hika-chan-What?**

**Rythmi-You made me say 'don't get your knickers in a twist!' That is soooo old!**

**Hika-chan-So?**

**Keith-A-A-and what about the fall, and the clinging, and the fall, and when Isaac came in? *blushes madly***

**Hika-chan-*evil glint in eyes appears* Oh, it's all part of my master plan...Heh heh. Oh, plus, torturing you is fun!**

**Mizu and Kate-*Walk into room***

**Kate-What's going on? *Looks at Keith***

**Mizu-*Pats shoulder* You dense, DENSE girl.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Hika-chan-YAY! Third chapter, no reviews, and one favoriter!**

**Mizu-A special thanks to DaughterofDemeter123. She added this story to her favorites. By the way, 'favoriter' isn't a word.**

**Hika-chan-Awww~...*sad***

**Kate-*Pets Hika-chan* Hika-chan does not own Pokemon or Pokemon Ranger.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>I eyed the ranger with curiosity and interest as he smiled to everybody. Ms. April shooed us to sit down on the grass, and we did. Mr. Lamont introduced the ranger as Ranger Crawford who was stationed in the base in Vien Town. I kept my eyes on the guy during the questions. I felt as if he was glancing at me every so often too, but I also saw out of the corner of my eye Keith eyeing me.<p>

Occasionally, I turned to looked at the other students. When I did, all of them had their attention directed to Crawford. Keith would turn away angrily, his face red, and Rythmi would smile with interest. Finally, Rythmi raised her hand and asked, "Me next! There isn't anything I'd rather be than an Operator. Do you think I'll become one?"

Crawford eyed her with a smile for a moment. "Sure, no problemo! You'll become one all right!" he said with a smile. Rythmi pumped her fist into the air with a grin. "I knew it!" she sang. "Oi, Ryth, aren't you confusing the Ranger with a fortune-teller?" Keith asked slyly. "But, will I become a Ranger?" he added in. Crawford laughed and I giggled. "Hey, aren't you confusing me with a fortune-teller or something?" Keith's face went red and I nudged him with my elbow.

He looked at me, embarrassed, but I gave him a smile. He turned back to Ranger Crawford, expecting a good answer. "But, I'll tell you this: your strong shines through loud and proud." Crawford answered, sounding a little serious. Keith sighed with relief and I realized, everyone asked a question but me. I looked up at Crawford who was talking to Keith at the moment, and finally said, "How about me?"

At first, Crawford looked at me with surprise, then laughed. "You've been quiet this whole time!" he smirked. He came to eye level with me, and I felt warmth grab at my cheeks. He looked as if he was examining me, to figure out his answer. He pulled back up suddenly, and smiled, looking to the sun. "Definitely, I can see it…no, feel it in you." Crawford looked back down at me and poked me on the forehead.

I blushed furiously as my shyness took the best of me and I looked down at my knees. I saw out the corner of my eye that Keith was glaring at Crawford, and Rythmi was once again smiling. Then we all heard a sound. _Voicemail! Voicemail! Crawford, do you hear me? It's Barlow. Listen, there's a Mantine hurt of the shore of School Island. The Mantine apparently ran into a cargo ship. Luana's headed to the dock to join you._

Crawford's face reddened a bit at the name of this Luana person. I giggled as Keith looked at me, wondering what was so funny.

_Join up with her Crawford, and get to the site immediately._

With that, the call ended, and Crawford looked a little more serious. Crawford laughed, and did his Ranger pose, which looked pretty cool, well, to the boys and a few girls who were head over heels in love with him. He turned to Principal Lamont, and said, "Since the students are so worried," he glanced at me. Hey, I was worried, okay? "I'll report back on how it went. Please excuse me for this event. Principal Lamont smiled his famous smile and said, "No worries, now isn't that your boat?" he replied.

He was right. A boat had come up to the dock, and there was a girl, about four years older than me, waving at Crawford. He flushed again and ran over to the boat, waving his goodbyes to us as the boat disappeared into the horizon. "It's like we got to see an awesome scene from a movie!" one of the boys named Hiro said. He was one of those boys hat stared at me on my first day.

"Well, that was the shortest outdoor class ever! But it was the most gripping and realistic of all outdoor classes as well, certainly!" Ms. April said. We al, turned to out teacher, as she said that we had to get back to the classroom now. Students filled away, and Ms. April and Principal Lamont soon followed after. Keith fist pumped as he walked in front of Rythmi and I. "Ya' know, I'm even more excited about becoming a Ranger. Sure, I still have a lot of questions left, but I'm sure that I'll find them out.

"A real Ranger said I was going to be an Operator!" Rythmi squealed. Keith acted all smart, saying, "We have to grab hold to our dreams, and make them come true!" a smirk followed his lips. "You think we don't know that?" I asked, a smile across my face. "I'm going to do it! I'll make my dreams come true!" Rythmi exclaimed. Keith turned to me, "I'm not going to lose either! Not while I have a rival like Kate!" he exclaimed happily. I flushed a little, from embarrassment. "Same here," I said back to him smoothly.

"Why don't the three of us right now make a pledge? We're at the pledge stone, aren't we?" Keith said, pointing to the gigantic statue. "Let's pledge to each other that we'll make our dreams come true." He outstretched his hand. I smiled. "I'll definitely make that pledge, "I said, putting my hand on his. Haven't our hand been touching a lot since I came here?

Keith flushed a little and Rythmi placed her hand on mine. "Of course!" our hands flew up and Keith fist pumped again. "Great, now let's get back to class!" he said, looking at his wrist worriedly, even though he didn't have a watch. We ran back to class quickly and the rest of the day passed by rather quickly. Sure, while Ms. April was teaching us chemistry, Keith blew up my desk, and during target practice I 'accidently' aimed the Bidoof's attack at Keith, but that was all.

Well, afterwards, I made another letter for my sister. I told her about what we did today, and how Ranger School always seemed to surprise me. I was writing under the covers, a flashlight in my mouth, and my writing pad and pencil in hand. I finished the letter when my stomach started growling. I sweatdropped and silently crawled out of my bed, and opened the door. I was in the hallway and headed toward the kitchen that was across the dorms.

I tiptoed even though I didn't have to. "I'm really hungry." I whined to myself. When I reached the door, I silently opened it, and found the light to be on. I saw Keith sitting by the cookie jar, eating them one by one. "K-Kate?" he asked in a voice that was a little too loud. I opened my eyes wide and covered his mouth with my hand. "Shh!" I scolded him, holding up my finger to my mouth.

Keith nodded, his cheeks turning pink as I moved my hand away from his mouth. I sighed and slumped down next to him, bracing my back against his. "O-Oi!" he muttered. "What? I'm tired, now give me a cookie." I said bluntly, holding out my hand, one eye open. He grunted and put a chocolate chip cookie in my hand. "Oh, sorry about your desk," he muttered.

"It's okay. You apologized like fifty times in class, didn't you?" I said, munching on the cookie. "Yeah…So, what are you doing up?" Keith asked. "I just finished writing a letter to my sister, and I got hungry. What about you?"

"Couldn't sleep." I sweatdropped. "And you eat cookies…?" I trailed off. Keith nodded, embarrassed. I chuckled. He looked back to me. "Oi, Kate, um, why did you keep…staring at Ranger Crawford?" he asked me. My eyes opened wide and I knew my whole face was red. "N-No reason!" I exclaimed quietly. I had a feeling that Keith was eyeing me. "It's just that, he looks so cool and he's like…" I twiddled my fingers.

"Like?"

"An idol that's kinda handsome, and funny, and knows how a person feels." Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that. If possible, my face went as red as a tamato berry. "I-I didn't mean to say that!" I said a little too loudly. There were footsteps coming toward the kitchen. Keith stashed away the cookie jar, cut off the light, and grabbed my arm. "Whatever you do, be quiet!" he whispered. He opened up the large closet-like-pantry, and pushed the two of us inside.

He closed the door to the pantry and everything became silent. We were standing really close to each other. I was as tall as Keith's nose, and he was looking down at me, a finger to his lips. My cheeks felt red, and I silently spun around so he couldn't see me patting my cheeks. "Kate, something wrong?" he asked, putting his ear to the door.

"N-No…" I stammered. "Anyone in here?" asked a voice. It was Janice. I closed my eyes tightly and tried not to talk. "Hmn, guess not." Janice sighed in relief. Keith and I heard the door open and be slammed closed. I relaxed myself against the door breathing out. But, that wasn't really a good idea.

The door opened and I fell backward, and Keith grabbed my arm, pulling me back up. I clashed into him and sighed a thank you. My cheeks red, I quickly walked out of the kitchen and back to my dorm. I climbed into my bed and covered myself with the sheets. "What was that?" I asked myself in a whisper, putting my hand to my chest.

The next morning came quickly, and I was sitting in Ms. April's classroom, my head in my hands, wondering why I had such a reaction. Rythmi glanced at me every so often, and I knew I was worrying her, but I was so stressed over it! Then, Ms. April walked into the room, saying, "Good morning!"

We all rushed our attention to our teacher as she braced against her desk and told us that the Mantine that Crawford went to get was safe. I sighed, feeling a little relaxed. Then she walked behind her desk and pulled two things up, placing them on top. "Now, these are some actual Ranger stylers that our principal has borrowed from the Union. Can anyone tell me what these stylers have that are different from school stylers?" Ms. April asked.

Rythmi immediately raised her hand and said, "Voicemail." Ms. April smiled at Rythmi's enthusiasm. "Yes, now, Operators and Rangers work together using this. If a Ranger gets lost, the Operator will use voicemail to tell him or her where to go." Ms. April explained, her sweet voice ringing through the room.

"Now, today, I will need two students to demonstrate this. Rythmi shall be our operator and Keith will be the Ranger," our teacher explained. Rythmi raised her hand again. "Uh, Ms. April, Keith isn't here yet."

* * *

><p><strong>Hika-chan-I liked making this chapter...Please review!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Mizu-YAY! We have more favoriters and alerters and stuffs!~~**

**SOA Cast-What's wrong with Mizu...?**

**Hika-chan-*Shrugs* She's been listening to WAY too much Nightcore, even more than me...and that's a lot.**

**Rythmi-*Facepalm* Damn, if she listens to anymore, we'll be screwed...!**

**Mizu-~I KNOW THIS PRETTY RAVE GIRL...~!**

**Kate, Keith, and Rythmi-NOOO!**

**Hika-chan-*puts in earplugs* Those fools are on their own. I DON'T OWN POKEMON UNFORTUNATELY!**

* * *

><p>I looked over to my right to see that Keith wasn't there. "Well, that's odd, Keith doesn't usually sleep in." Ms. April muttered. "Well then, that leaves Kate to be our Ranger." Our teacher' voice became cheery. She placed one styler upon my desk and the other on Rythmi's. "Cool!" Rythmi sung. She put her mouth to the speaker and spoke into it while holding a button. "Hello, can you hear me? Come in Ranger."<p>

I sweatdropped with a sheepish smile across my face. "Eh, Ryth, we're too close." I said to her. "Oh, yeah," she said. "Well, how about we get farther apart?" It was a pretty good idea. I got up from my chair keeping the real Pokemon Ranger styler in hand, and started running toward the door.

Once I got to the door though, it opened wide and I heard Kincaid say, "Hey, no running in the classroom either!" I stopped in my tracks and looked at him angrily. He turned to Ms. April, petting down his horrible hair and said, "Ah, I am sorry for disturbing your class." Kincaid started walking toward Ms. April.

"What an idiot," I muttered under my breath. "I have a small matter of which I would like to speak to Keith about." Kincaid told Ms. April bluntly. My heartbeat sped up. Why did this monster want to talk to Keith? Was he going to give him detention? Why did I even care? Anyways, Ms. April looked confused.

"Keith is running late today…" she trailed off. An evil grin appeared on Kincaid's face. "Late, you say…? Well, we have a problem. The number of stylers in the staff room have disappeared. I've already proved innocence of all my students, but Keith being late… He probably stole all the stylers for his own purpose."

My blood was boiling. How dare he accuse Keith of doing such a thing! Sure, he's kind of a prankster, but he would never do that! But before I could start screaming my lungs out at the bastard, Rythmi got up and stood in front of Kincaid. "Mr. Kincaid, Keith would never do such a thing." Wow, didn't I just think that? "Oh do be still!" Kincaid laughed.

"He runs in the hallways, he sneaks into the basement where he is not permitted…" Kincaid snuck a glance at me. I just glared at him my heart going crazy. "It's only natural that he should be the suspect!" Ms. April cleared her throat and said with a rather annoyed look on her face, "Mr. Kincaid, don't you always preach that people should not be put under suspicion without proof?"

"Give me some time, and I will look for Keith and the stylers." Ms. April ended. Hiro rose from his chair and came over to our small group. "I'll help look!" he said. The other two girls of our class, whose names were Kiki and Madison also came over. "I'll look upstairs!" Madison said. "I'll look too!" Kiki said with enthusiasm.

Kincaid looked around at all of us and angrily left. Ms. April smiled, an accomplished look on her face, and followed suit, as did the rest of my class. Rythmi and I were the only two left in the room now. "Kate, let's look around the school!" Rythmi said to me. I nodded. "We have to prove that Keith is innocent to that monster." I mumbled. "Good," Rythmi said with a chuckle. "We can use the voicemail feature to communicate, okay?" I nodded as she left the room.

I sighed, knowing I was going to send a stressful letter to my sister that day, and exited as well. I walked into the hallway and saw Rythmi talking to a student from Kincaid's class. I waved to her as I passed and ran to the dorms upstairs. Just as I got to the second floor, the styler went off.

_Voicemail! Voicemail! This is Rythmi on the ground floor! _I could tell she was enjoying that. _Please come to the front door, and hurry! _I quickly jumped down the stairs, thinking she had found Keith. But instead, she was standing by the door, talking to Janice. I came up to Rythmi and smiled at Janice. "I was feeding the Bidoof in the yard when I found a styler. Did you happen to drop yours Kate?" Janice asked. I shook my head as I pointed to the styler clipped onto my belt.

I looked to Rythmi. We had the same idea-look in the yard. We thanked Janice and exited through the front door. We immediately found a styler lying on the grass ahead. We ran over to it and picked it up. "This is one of the missing stylers!" Rythmi said, pointing out the obvious. We looked around to try and find more. We ended up walking toward the staircase and found a styler lying on the first step I picked it up, and in a flash, Rythmi and I were at the foot of the steps.

What we saw was Keith and an older looking man in a coat. I sighed in relief as I saw Keith. "Keith!" Rythmi shouted. He turned to see us standing there. "What are you doing here? And who is this man?" Rythmi asked. Keith pointed to the man. "This dude's a stinking thief! On my way to class, I saw him coming out of the staff room, and I called out to him." He took a breath before continuing.

"And then he was off!" Keith huffed in anger. We looked over to the thief who was now backing away toward the tree. "T-Three on one isn't fair. Adios!" he cried out before running straight into the tree. A Slakoth came tumbling down and landed onto the guy's head, clinging there.

At the same time, all the stylers came pouring from his arms, landing on the ground. Keith, Rythmi and I walked over to him as Keith picked up the stylers with a grin. "Ha! A Slakoth fell out of the tree. Serves you right," he snickered. This boy, he sure was annoying sometimes, and just plain stupid. I gave him a disappointed look, which he didn't see as he was watching the thief blindly run around.

"Help, it stinks!" he cried out. Keith turned around and said, "Let's go. He doesn't need help." I looked at him angrily. "What are you saying? We can't just leave him like that. If you want to be a Ranger, you have to help people! " Rythmi exclaimed, anger running through her veins too. "Kate, please capture the Slakoth!" Rythmi turned her attention to me.

I had already pulled out my styler and took my stance pointing the styler at the man and the Slakoth. "Way ahead of you." I mumbled. "Capture on!" I shouted. The disk went flying out, circling around in thin air around the Slakoth. The problem was, the thief kept on running around, so it was kind of difficult to capture it, the man moving so quickly and all.

But, within a few seconds, I successfully captured the Slakoth. It ran away back into its tree with a smile on its face. I sighed and stared at the man. "Finally saved…" he muttered. He saw me staring at him and showed a weak smile. "Thank you." He muttered, twiddling his fingers as he arose from the ground where he fell.

That's when Ms. April came down the stairs. "What's going on here? You two disappeared, so we started looking for you too." Ms. April said. We turned to her, and she saw all the stylers in Keith's arms. "Here's Keith, and the stylers too!" she sung out. I cleared my throat. "Ms. April," I said, pointing to the thief. "This is the man who stole the stylers."

Keith turned back to the man. "Dude, why did you take our stylers?" he asked. At that moment, he seemed like a sensible person. In my eyes anyways. "W-Well, I have always wanted to be a Pokemon Ranger, and a bunch of other things, but I gave up. A-And today I thought that if I at least had a styler, I would be able to pursue the one dream that I never got out of my head…" the man mumbled.

Ms. April sighed angrily, or maybe she was just annoyed. Aren't those the same thing? Anyways, she looked at the man and said, "You're age doesn't matter. If you have a dream you can't let go of, make it true. The sneaky thief man walked over to Ms. April, surprised. He started wiping his nose on his sleeve. "T-thank you…Teacher lady. Y-Your s-so kind…" he exclaimed happily. Meanwhile, Keith, Rythmi and I were watching, sweatdrops on our heads.

Ms. April put her finger to her temples. "Seeing all of the stylers laying there, I just wanted to take them away…" I heard the thief mutter. Ms. April looked up at him. "You and you're dreams are always greedy…" she trailed off with a smile. "You can come here to learn you know. Now go home and think about what you have done."

The thief walked away gratefully, then turned around before he exited the gates. "Wait, j-just go home?" he asked. Ms. April nodded again. The man smiled, embarrassed, and walked away happily. Ms. April sighed angrily, although, I was sure she felt a little happy.

"…And Keith was trying to retrieve the stylers." Ms. April ended. Rythmi, Keith, and I had to go to see Principal Lamont. Ms. April had come to tell the story, and Kincaid came…because he's a teacher. Principal Lamont nodded. "So that is what took place in my absence…? Well, even though the thief got away, it's a relief that everyone is safe. And recovering the stylers are a bonus." He smiled.

Kincaid had his arms crossed against his chest, and he was looking away from the rest of us angrily, mumbling something. "Keith should be blamed because his behavior is deplorable…" he muttered. I sweatdropped while he spoke his thoughts aloud. Ignoring that, Ms. April went on with talking.

"To tell the truth, I was quite impressed by Rythmi's support for Kate," Ms. April praised. Rythmi looked down at her shoes, smiling. She walked over to me, and smiled. "Kate, your cooperation with your friend resulted in a successful capture. Anyone could tell it from the smile on that Slakoth's face." Ms. April told me with a wink. I grinned at her, feeling a little embarrassed, but definitely like the praise.

Lastly, she walked over to Keith. She eyed him for a while. "Keith…" she mumbled with a sigh. "Your way too reckless. Rely on those good friends of yours. There is only so much a Ranger can face alone, and one day, you will be faced with that kind of challenge."

"ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?" Ms. April yelled. Ryth and I, being as smart as we were, put some earplugs into our ears, as did Principal Lamont. Keith fell back on the ground, surprised from the sudden outburst, as did Kincaid. Keith stood up, and starting grumbling to himself. "That stupid thief didn't get away, we let him get away…" he mumbled angrily.

He turned to me. "Kate, you understand, right? About how I feel?" he asked. I looked at him a moment, my cheeks feeling warm. I didn't respond. He turned to Rythmi and said, "Thanks, Rythmi, for believing in me, it made me happy." He said. I looked at Keith, I never did understand him fully.

Principal Lamont chuckled a moment, then a face of understanding came across his face. "Like that thief, perhaps there are shadows in all our hearts. What's important is to never let that darkness take over. It is written in the books of Almia's history. Here, there is an ancient word: 'votanage'," he explained. 'Votanage'…it was such an entrancing word.

Principal Lamont continued. "It means 'to reawaken light that has been submerged in darkness." Our principal looked out the nearby window with a longing look. "Votanage…" He turned back to us and said, "Today, you three shined with that brilliance. May you never lose that shine." He looked at all three of us. Then he laughed. "Looks like I made some speech there, but it is time for all of us to return to our daily doings."

"Oh, and Kate, you have a letter." Ms. April said. "A letter? Oh, my sister must have replied to me. Boy, that was fast." I said, remembering that I posted out the letter early this morning. Ms. April passed me the letter and smiled. With that, Rythmi, Keith, and I left for the dorms. The bell was going to ring soon, signaling lunch, so we thought we might as well head there.

While Janice put hot bowls in front of us as the bell rang through the building, I opened the pink envelope and quickly scanned the words. I was surprised. And really happy. A week ago, my little sister Amy wrote me a letter saying that she and our parents were going to move here from Fiore. "What's it say?" Keith asked me, looking over my shoulder at the letter. I looked over at him and pushed the letter into his face. "Well…?" Rythmi asked me. "Well, you guys know how I'm from Fiore right?" I asked happily. Rythmi nodded and Keith grunted and he put down the letter.

"Well, now my parents and my sister are moving here from Fiore, and they're going to live in-" I got cut off. "Chicole Village." Keith ended. I nodded. "Wow, that's so cool Kate. I bet it's really exciting." Rythmi told me. "I wonder if you're allowed to visit them…?" Keith wondered out loud. I looked at him. "Nice idea Keith, I'll ask Ms. April when she comes up!" I said to him, feeling really jumpy. He smiled at me and my hear pounded on my chest, which resulted in me spinning around to face Rythmi.

I still couldn't figure out what that was, and why it happened. Maybe I have some weird heart disease. "Hey, Ms. April's here, Kate." Rythmi pointed out. I looked over to the stairwell to see Ms. April coming up. I waved my arms in the air and starting calling out, "MS. APRIL, OVER HERE!" Keith used his hand to cover my mouth. "Kate, you could have walked over to her…" Rythmi trailed off, sweatdropping.

* * *

><p><strong>Hika-chan-*Pulls out earplugs* It's over!<strong>

**SOA Cast-*Comes in room carefully***

**Kate-Finally, my ears were freaking bleeding!**

**Rythmi-Mizu, you normal?**

**Mizu-*snore***

**Keith-...We'll take that as a yes. Oh, Hika-chan, one more thing...**

**Hika-chan-Yes?**

**Keith-WHO THE HELL IS THIS KID? *Holds up kid by collar***

**Hika-chan-OH, Shinji! Today's bring your brother to work day!**

**Shinji-*Whacks Hika-chan with giant hammer* No it isn't.**

**Hika-chan-*Grabs Shinji by neck* Do that and I'll kill you...again.**

**Shinji-R-Review please...! *faints*  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Kate-Well it sure did take you long enough!**

**Hika-chan-WELL, it's not my fault school started...**

**Keith-Ah, shut up...By the way, where's Mizu and Rythmi?**

**Shinji-*comes out of nowhere* They went to go get ice cream.**

**Hika-chan-I-Ice creamm...? *drools***

**Kate and Keith-*sweatdrop* U-Um, well, let's get this chapter over with...  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Well, Ms. April came over and stared at me while I apologized for calling her out in the middle of lunch. "Well, what did you need?" she asked. I twiddled my thumbs for a moment and finally said, "Well, my family is moving down here, to Chicole Village, and I was wondering if I could visit them when they get here…" I mumbled.<p>

"Well…" Ms. April said, looking through her thoughts. "Ms. April, you know that Chicole Village ain't that far!" Keith said. "Yeah, and one of us could take her too!" Rythmi supported. I looked at them both, and then back to Ms. April to use my secret weapon-Tamaki's puppy dog eyes.

Ms. April stared at me a moment, unnerved, but then she finally broke when I started barking. Believe me, that skill; even though I look like a real idiot, it comes in handy. "Fine, but, you'll have to wait a month," our teacher admitted in defeat. "Yes!" I cried out, jumping on the table. Everyone that was upstairs was looking at me. I laughed sheepishly while a sweatdropping Rythmi and Keith pulled me back down.

After lunch, we had a free day during class because of what happened with the stylers. But, unfortunately, Keith and I still had to do our homework that was due the next day, even though we had a week's time to finish it. So, right after the bell rung, at five, Ryth, Keith, and I went to the library to finish up on our homework.

"Remind me again, why is Rythmi coming?" Keith asked as we walked into the library. I cuffed him on the head. "One-because she's the smartest in the class, so she'll be able to help, and two- it'll be fun." I said knowingly as I put my books onto a table. Rythmi looked outside. "Heh, it's almost winter time," she said. "And it's going to get dark soon, so let's hurry up," Keith said, looking around. I laughed.

"Haven't gotten over your fear of ghost, huh?" I snickered. He glared at me, but accomplished nothing. "Well, what's the first book, Kate?" Rythmi asked with a laugh, changing the subject. I pointed to the first book in my stack of three. "Pokemon Ranger Guide: Transmitting your feelings of Friendship Without a Problem." I said. "Uh, Kate," Keith said. "That's a manga."

I looked down to my pile of books to see that he was right. It was a volume of Ouran High School Host Club. "Dammit!" I cursed under my breath. I moved the manga to find another one, and under that another. All while that was happening, Isaac had entered the room and was standing behind me, wondering what the hell was going on.

He tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around quickly to see a look of concern on his face. "You okay?" Isaac asked. I slowly breathed out and nodded. I turned back to the table to stare at the mangas. I facepalmed and looked back up to Keith and Rythmi. "Sorry, guys, gimme…" I cut myself off when I noticed Rythmi's behavior.

She was twiddling her thumbs and avoiding all contact with Isaac. An evil grin came upon my face. "Keith?" I asked, turning at the angry boy. "Will you come with me to help me find the right books?" Keith looked at me a moment, and finally nodded. Before we left to scour the books I turned to Isaac and said, "Please sit down."

Isaac sat down, and Keith and I made it to a book shelf that was far enough from our table. "What's up?" he asked me as I looked through the books. I glanced up at him. "Damn, you figured me out already." I sighed. I smiled. "Isn't it obvious? Ryth likes Isaac, Isaac might feel the same way, so I'm testing out my matchmaking skills."

Keith stared at me a moment. "Why would I help Isaac in his so-called 'love life'?" he scoffed. "Because your friends with Rythmi and I." I said, pleading for help. "F-Fine! I'll help!" Keith said to me, becoming a little flustered. I smiled happily, and then we set for work. Keith and I watched Rythmi and Isaac's behavior, all while looking for the book.

After half an hour, Keith and I were sitting lazily behind a bookshelf not too far away from the table. I was wondering why no one had come in the library yet. "Hey, Ryth?" Isaac asked. Keith and I immediately peeked at them. "Don't you think Keith and Kate have been gone for a while now?" he continued. Rythmi waved her hand in a carefree style. "Ah, they probably got interested in something other than finding the book," she replied with a smile.

I nearly burst. Keith, being the dumbbell he was, didn't get it, even though he's like, what, fourteen, but anyways, I wanted to attack them so badly. They were laughing over it. Keith had to restrain me from blowing our cover. "Keith, lem'me at 'em!" I whispered to him angrily. "No Kate, this was your idea from the start, so you have to stick with it!" Keith told me. "Dammit…" I muttered. My heart was completely racing from all my anger, at least that's what I think it was.

Keith and I continued our hiding for another ten minutes before Keith grabbed a book. "Keith, what are you…?" I presumed to ask, but then the book went flying. I tackled Keith to the ground and heard the impact of the book on Isaac's head. Mostly because he yelled 'ouch'. "Isaac, you okay?" I heard Rythmi ask, worry etched in her voice.

"Ah, yeah. No need to worry," I heard Isaac reply. I stretched my neck up to see Isaac smiling innocently. Rythmi moved her hand to his forehead. "Are you sure? You might get a bump…!" Rythmi trailed off. "N-No! I'm okay…" Isaac said, his face reddening. It was so cute-Rythmi was leaning in to see if Isaac had any 'injuries' from the book Keith threw, and Isaac was going bonkers just because she was touching him.

"Keith, mission success!" I whispered, looking down at him. His face was red, and he smirked. "Well, mission success here too," he said, pointing to a book in his hands. It was the same book we needed for our homework. I smiled at him. "W-Well, can you get off of me now?" he stuttered. Surprised, I looked down to see that I was on top of Keith. I kind of pinned him down-well, at least I know I'm strong.

I got up, flustered, and grabbed the book. Keith got up and dusted himself off. We then walked toward Isaac and Rythmi, ruining their moment. "Kate! What took so long?" Rythmi exclaimed, turning different shades of red, all the same for Isaac. Keith grunted, being unhappy around Isaac, but there was an obvious smirk pulling on the corner of his lips.

I smiled at Ryth playfully. She was surprised, but then calmed down, understanding what I meant. "We found the book, so we should hurry our asses up on finishing our homework." I laughed. "O-Okay, I'll help too." Isaac murmured. So after that, Keith and I finally finished our homework before the clock struck seven.

The four of us walked back to the dorms quietly. Isaac went into the boys' dorm with a wave. Rythmi left after a while, which left Keith and I at the table. "Hey, Keith." I said, looking through the fifth volume of Soul Eater. "What?" he asked back at me. "How come you don't blow up when you're around Isaac? That is, when me and Ryth are around." I asked, not taking my eyes of my manga.

Keith stared at me a moment, and shrugged sheepishly. "Well, I just guess I shouldn't be so violent around you…" he muttered. "Keith, I could break your arm without even trying." I pointed out nonchalantly. He sweatdropped. "Y-Yeah, your right. But still, I just feel like it's not the right thing to do…" he replied. I closed my manga and got up, walking toward the girls dorm.

"I-I'm sorry! Did I say something…?" Keith exclaimed when I put my hand on the door knob. I turned to him and gave him a heartwarming smile. "Good job today cadet." I told him. He looked at me a second and laughed. Smirking, he said, "You too, captain." My heart leapt and I looked down at my feet as I walked into the dorm. Everyone was doing their own stuff, and I walked over to my bunk.

"Hey, Ryth." I told my friend as I sat down next to her on my bed. "Thanks." She smiled at me, the same smile I saw on her face when I first saw her. I patted her on the back, laughing, "No problem, anything for my best friend." After that, I set to writing another letter to my sister. I stared at the blank piece of paper in front of me. I tapped my pen against my head a few times and finally wrote on the paper: 'Dear Amy,'.

I sighed, feeling oddly accomplished and stuffed the notepad and pen under my pillow. And with that, I fell asleep quite early. After a few days, snow was falling on the ground. One day, Keith, Rythmi, and I were caught running in the halls by Kincaid. "Why are you three running in the halls?" Kincaid asked, looking disgusted with us. I lifted an eyebrow. "Well, we wanted to experiment how quickly we could piss you off." I said, acting like a genius.

"Kate!" Rythmi and Keith exclaimed, surprised. Kincaid glared at me, and I glared back. "We were also running away from a horrid stench, which I'm pretty sure was your hair." I added in. Kincaid opened his eyes wide in frustration, and before I could say anything else, Keith covered my mouth with his hand. He may be the troublemaker out of the three of us, but he didn't want a detention. "Mr. Kincaid…" Keith trailed off. "We were just going to go outside in the yard to join the rest of our fellow students in a snowball fight." Rythmi finished.

Kincaid eyed the three of us. He then took out a small notepad and pen from his pocket and scribbled furiously on it. He ripped the paper off and handed it to me. "I will let the running slide this _once_, but Ms. Kate, you will have detention for offending a teacher," he sneered, and then left. Rythmi sighed and Keith yelped in pain when I bit his hand. "Kate, we all know you hate Kincaid," Rythmi said.

"Who doesn't?" Keith and I snickered.

"But, what drove you to do that? You're always goody-two-shoes with the teachers." She said, ignoring Keith and me's interruption. I shrugged. "Yeah, Kate, usually I'm the one who does that crap-which by the way, was pretty nice." Keith complimented me, rubbing the bridge of his nose. I grinned. "Heh, I was sick of the guy. He's a pain, now c'mon, or else they're gonna start without us." I said, running toward the door. My two friends shrugged and we all tumbled outside the door.

A snow flake landed on my nose. I looked at it a moment and then diverted my attention to my surroundings. White covered the whole place, the gardens were out of sight, and the stairs were piling with snow. I stared at the place, looking around happily. "YAY!"

* * *

><p><strong>Mizu and Rythmi-*Eating ice cream in lunch room*<strong>

**Hika-chan-*Bursts through door*WHY?**

**Rythmi-HOLY-! Hika-chan, what's wrong with you?**

**Keith and Kate-*run in and restrain Hika-chan from killing Mizu with a plastic spoon***

**Kate-She's mad you didn't get her ice cream.**

**Mizu-Well, she wasn't supposed to eat any, we had a bet.**

**Hika-chan-OH, yeah...*sweatdrop* Review please!  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Kate-Where the hell have you been? We've been dying here!**

**Rythmi-Not only that, but there are random people out there waiting for you to update!**

**Hika-chan-LEAVE ME ALONE!~ *runs around the room in circles, crying dramatically***

**Mizu-Never mind her. Hmmn, where's Keith?**

**Hika-chan-*Stops in her tracks and stops crying like it never happened* For once, I don't know.**

**Rythmi and Kate-This is bad...**

**Mizu-Hika-chan doesn't own Pokemon. Now, *pulls on detective hat nonchalantly* we're going on a search for our second favorite goofball!**

**Hika-chan-Whose the first?**

**Mizu-Crawford.**

Keith looked at me, totally caught off guard. "W-Whoa…! What the hell?" he screamed. I looked over at him and laughed, embarrassed. Rythmi tried not to giggle. "O-Oh yeah…Keith, you haven't seen Kate when she's, well, the only word I can think of is hyper!" she burst laughing. I blushed in embarrassment and yelled at her, "C'mon, Ryth! I only do it when I'm really happy!" I'm not very good at defending myself with words, now am I?

Keith laughed and clapped his hands together. "W-Well…" he smiled. "Kate, I'm not gonna get too into that, so let's go find the others and get the fight started!" I sweatdropped. "At least he didn't question my habits…"I trailed off. I then perked up and looked around. "No one's around, Keith." I pointed out. "Of course not! We're supposed to find everyone in our class-which will end up being our team-and start!" Keith said, flashing a determined grin at me.

I looked at him, confused. "Kate, didn't you hear Isaac yesterday while he explained what we were gonna do…?" Rythmi asked me. I sighed. "N-No…I wasn't really listening at all…" I murmured. Keith laughed. "Let me guess, you were hyped up from _knowing_ we were going to have this fight today?" I nodded slowly, my cheeks turning red from embarrassment.

Rythmi stifled a giggle and said, "Well, let's split up and start looking. We only have to find Hiro, Madison, and Kiki!" I smiled at her and nodded. "Okay then, I'll check behind the school, Ryth, you check by Ascension Square, and Keith, you look around in the yard." I suggested. Rythmi nodded and walked off happily to her scheduled area. I turned to Keith and winked, "Let's work hard together cadet!" My heart pounded, but I didn't really noticed because I was staring at Keith, who gave me one of his stupid smiles and said, "You got it, captain!"

And with that he left to walk around the yard. I put my hand against my chest and sighed. "Yeash…I must have it bad. I'm gonna have to talk to Janice about seeing a doctor…" I trailed off to myself. Shaking my head, I walked around to the back of the school and looked around. "Oi! Is anyone back here?" I asked aloud. No reply. I sighed angrily, a vein bulging.

"Cmon! I know you're here!" Walking around, I looked about my area until I felt a cold mass hit the back of my knee. I twisted around quickly, yelling out, "What the hell?" I looked to see Isaac-not looking suspicious at all-whistling. He stumbled back a few steps, and even looked at me, and then he continued to find his teammates like we never saw each other. I looked at the spot he was standing at, exasperated. Then I looked over to where he had stumbled back. There was a large mass of snow just, well, sitting there.

Raising an eyebrow, I walked over to it, acting all normal, and when I got to it, I kicked the mound. "SHIT!" Hiro cried, bursting from his hideout. He sprawled on the ground and started hugging his knee. I laughed. "O-Oh, hi, Hiro!" I snickered. He growled at me, feeling sorry for his poor knee. "C'mon, you'll survive, now, where are the others?" I asked him, helping his get up. He leaned against me and looked down at his knee. As soon as he was going to say something, Keith came racing toward us.

"Kate! Are you okay? I heard a scream…" he stopped short when he saw Hiro. He frowned and asked, "What happened?" I looked at him a moment. "I kicked Hiro in his knee and now I'm helping him get over to the yard." I said, noticing his strange behavior. Hiro looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and whispered into my ear, "Uh, Kate, I think I'm okay now…"

I looked at him and turned back to Keith, who seemed very, well…unhappy. "I wonder…?" I trailed off under my breath as Hiro moved his arm away from my shoulders. The three of us stood there for what seemed like centuries until Hiro broke the ice. "Well then, I guess everyone waiting for us, huh?" he asked, sounding nervous. I looked at my feet and kicked at the snow, when Keith said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's go."

With that, we walked to the front of the school to see Madison, Rythmi, and Kiki building our fort. Kiki noticed us and yelled out, "Hey guys! Over here!" and she started waving her arms around. I laughed a little, feeling the tension break between the three of us, and ran over to them. "Rythmi, you sure are fast!" I smiled. "It was easy," she shrugged. "We just kinda gave ourselves away I guess." Kiki laughed. I looked back over to Keith and Hiro, who were racing their way toward us. "So, what happened?" Rythmi asked, as she, Kiki and Madison piled a bunch of snow together. "Huh?" I asked, totally lost. Ryth sweatdropped and smiled.

"We heard you yell and then Keith just raced away…" she smiled at me. I looked back to Hiro and Keith. They were now helping out Kiki and Madison build our fort. "Honestly Ryth, I don't know." I mumbled. She watched me for a moment, and to lighten up the mood, we all started working on our fort. Soon enough, with a few in-team snowball fights and a bonk to Hiro and Keith's heads, we finished a magnificent fort that would help us win. I looked at our masterpiece and smirked. "This is gonna go well." Ryth mumbled excitedly. Can you even mumble and still be excited? Ya know what, never mind that.

I turned around to face our opposing team on the other side of the yard. Isaac was waving to us, which meant that we were starting. Rythmi stared at him while the rest of us raced behind our protective fort, but I dragged her with us. "Ryth, we all know that you're madly in love with Isaac, but focus!" Keith and I said simultaneously. We looked at each other a moment, completely ignoring Ryth's flustered reaction or the other's laughs. I smiled, trying to erase that one moment of complication from my memory. "You ready…cadet?" I asked.

Keith smirked. "Ya' know so captain." I felt my cheeks get warm, but I didn't bother to actually do anything about it because a voice called "WAR!" suddenly, a horde of snowballs hit our fort. We all ducked despite it, and suddenly remembered that we hadn't made a supply of snowballs. "Hurry up and start making!" Ryth exclaimed to our teammates while we all started making three snowballs at a time. Believe me, you don't wanna get Rythmi mad at you. It's bad enough when she yells at Keith, but that times like, six…MOVING ON.

In about five minutes, we had a good supply of snowballs, but our fort was staring to crumble. We set Kiki and Hiro to work on it and the rest of us would be attacking. I started to throw all the snowballs I could. I looked over our protective, uh, dome, and breached myself from the protection. Everything had gotten silent for a while. No more snowballs were being thrown. We decided to put _me_ out in danger for the reason, I really don't know why, but I ended up doing it anyway. I looked around, and suddenly, a snow ball came out of nowhere. Before I had time to react, it hit me square in the stomach-which tickled like hell-and I was sent flying. I was expecting to hit the cold, icy ground and maybe get knocked unconscious, but instead, I landed on a warm soft fabric.

I looked up at my savior and saw that it was Keith. He had slid underneath me and saved me from all the injuries my stupid thoughts would have gotten me into. "You okay?" he asked, concern etched in his voice. I looked at him a moment, my heart racing. I was lying on top of him, because he cared so much about me to actually help me from getting hurt. I didn't know what was going on, or why I was dazed, but I nodded slowly. Then he poked my stomach. I started laughing like crazy and tried to stifle my laughs as my cheeks grew bright red. Okay, let's get this settled-I am VERY ticklish. If you even poke me on my shoulder, I'll burst out laughing. I know, it's weird, but that's what makes me awesome.

"W-What was that for…?" I giggled. Keith smiled down at me and moved some of my bangs out of my eyes. "Well, the snowball hit ya' there, didn't it? I was checking if you were actually okay," he smiled softly. Okay, I swear, I MUST have turned as red as a tamato berry. But before I could give a really flustered reaction, Rythmi pulled me up and handed me three snowballs, smirking. "Ooooh." She laughed. "H-Hey!" I said, knowing what she meant. It was NOTHING like that between Keith and I. We were just friends.

And he was a really close guy friend of mine. Sure, we've had our awkward moments, but I would NEVER like Keith. Sure, his red eyes are always blazing with determination, and his spiky red hair is funny, and he's kinda cute, but…WAIT. I didn't just say that, did I? Ugh…I didn't say that, I didn't say that, I DIDN'T say that!

To change my weird thoughts, I started throwing snowballs rapidly. With all my flustered emotions raining into them, we quickly defeated our opposing team. After our victory, we all celebrated with hot chocolate and then we started having our own little 'mini-party' in the dining hall. Ryth, Keith, and I sat together, laughing about something, I didn't know. I was too distracted with my thoughts. Geesh, I really am an idiot. If I have a weird heart disease, I really shouldn't be doing anything athletic too much, but I did anyway. And I faced the consequences…I think.

I mean, my brain must have been frizzled from when I got hit with that snowball. Nothing seemed to make sense, especially my thoughts about Keith… I mean, well, UGH! I can't do this, my brain hurts, and I think I'm drunk on the five cups of hot chocolate I drank. So with those lasting thoughts, I gently put my cup on the table and walked back to the girls' dorm, avoiding the looks from Keith and Rythmi. Opening the door, I turned on the lights. It was already, what, four? We wasted so much time in a snow ball fight and hot chocolate. Man, I wish everyday could be like that. Uh, except for the part where I'm always going crazy. I don't know…Anyway, I went over to my bunk and collapsed on the bed. I pulled the notepad from under my pillow with a pen and started writing about my day, excluding my incident with Keith.

Then, I ripped the page off of the notepad, grabbed an envelope from my drawer and stuck it in. I put the now occupied envelope on my desk and put my notepad and pen into my drawer for once. With that, I hid my head under my pillow and fell asleep.

When I woke up, I saw that my letter was gone and I was going crazy over it. "Ryth, where's the letter that I put on my desk?" I asked her frantically. She gave me a nonchalant look, it wasn't a big deal to her of course, and I didn't even know why I was freaking out. "When I came into the dorm, I saw it and posted it out to your sister. So, you're probably gonna get a latter back from her this morning." She smiled at me.

I sighed in relief and thanked her. Then, I quickly changed into my Ranger uniform, ate breakfast with Rythmi and the other girls, and headed downstairs. I walked into Ms. April's class with Rythmi and sat in my regular seat next to Keith. "Morning," Keith said excitedly next to me. I smiled at him. With my sleep, I guess I kinda calmed down despite what had happened the day before. "Morning Keith. What are you so hyped up about?" I asked.

"Kate, I thought you were listening during class," he joked. "Today's our 1-day internships!" I remembered that a few days ago, Ms. April was talking about this. She said that when this day would come along, we would go somewhere that fitted with what we were aiming to be and be an intern for one day. "Oh yeah!" I said, becoming excited. "Yeah, where-?" Keith was going to ask, but at that moment, Ms. April walked into the room. She walked up to her desk and smiled. "So, good morning everyone. You know what today is-your 1-day internships," she begun.

Everyone cheered for a moment before we all returned to silence. "Today, you'll experience what it's like to be a real Ranger, Operator, or Mechanic. Don't take any side trips on the way, and please be safe." She said, looking at Keith. I stifled a laugh along with everyone else in the class, and with that, we all dispersed. Keith, Rythmi, and I all met at the classroom door. "Kate, where are you going?" Ryth asked me. "Uhh, honestly, I don't know." I sweatdropped, smiling sheepishly.

"Don't worry Ryth, I signed her up to Veintown with me." Keith said, pointing to himself with a grin. "And that's what makes me worry…" she face-palmed. I sweatdropped again and said, "Hey, isn't that where Ranger Crawford's stationed at?"

"It sure is, Kate." Ms. April told me, walking toward us. "I just wanted to tell you two, that since you're going off to Veintown base together, you can stop by at Chicole Village." Ms. April winked. A grin spread over my face. "Thanks Ms. April!" I exclaimed. She smiled at me and walked back over to her desk to sort papers. "Hey, Kate, that's great!" Rythmi congratulated me.

It was great. I had gotten a call from Amy on the school phone during class because she couldn't wait to tell me that they had finally moved over here. Mentally, I was jumping up and down in joy. "So, Ryth, where are you going?" Keith asked.

"I'm going to the Ranger Union. It's gonna be so cool!" she announced. "Oh, and that reminds me. Today's paper had a special feature on the Ranger Union!" Ryth added. She ran over to her desk, pulled out a newspaper, and brought it back to me. It featured a bunch of cool stuff about the union, it looked so cool. I handed the paper back to Rythmi after a moment. "Well, Ryth, I think we should get going. Bye!" I hugged my friend and Keith and I exited the classroom.

We headed through the school yard and made our way to the stairs when we heard yelling. "HELP MEEE!" I looked over at Keith, startled. He laughed. "Well, this isn't a real surprise now, isn't it? C'mon, Kate," he smiled. I looked at him oddly. Okay, that wasn't weird at all. I followed Keith down the steps and heard another cry for help. We looked over to the tree and saw a man holding onto the it for dear life, high up hanging by a branch. There were two Bidoof circling the tree happily, and Keith smiled again. "Yo, Little Tim!" he called out. The scrawny man looked over to us.

We ran over to him, and Keith said to him, "Hey, Little Tim. Ya playing hide-and-seek with the Bidoof?" I looked from Keith, to the man named Little Tim, down to the Bidoof, and back to Keith. "N-No! That's not it! Can't you tell that these here Bidoof are trying to maul me?" The Bidoof started squealing in delight for some reason. "See? Listen to these B-B-Bidoof goin' 'Beedehoo! Beedehoo!'" he stammered quickly.

"Uh, Little Tim, I think that the Bidoof just want to play…" Keith trailed off, sweatdropping. Finally, I interrupted. "Okay, what the hell is going on?" I asked, a vein bulging. "Oh, Kate, you don't know Little Tim yet?" Keith asked me, ignoring the pleas of help coming from Little Tim. I shook my head, saying, "Uh, isn't it obvious Keith?" Keith laughed, a sweatdrop coming to his head.

"Well, he's the milkman around here. He's really afraid of Pokemon, and I think the fact that he's the milkman gets all the Pokemon to like him. So, I guess the rest is pretty self-explanatory." He said, pointing to Little Tim. "Well, a Pokemon Ranger always lends a leading hand, so Keith, ya wanna help me with these Bidoof?" I asked, taking out my styler. "Oh, of course." Keith smirked at me, pulling out his own. With that, we captured the Bidoof within seconds and released them, allowing Little Tim to climb down to safety on the ground.

"I was scared a good plenty, but now I've been saved!" Little Tim cried out happily. "Thank you two so much. By the way Keith, who's your lady friend here?" he asked, nudging Keith in the ribs. The two of us turned red, well I at least know I did, because I was too occupied looking at my sneakers. Why did people always think that Keith and I were, well, dating? It really made me mad sometimes, because we're nowhere near the line between friendship and something else.

"Little Tim, it n-not like that! Today's our 1-day internship, and Kate and I have the same place to go to, so we're going together…!" Keith trailed off. "Fine, it's as you say…!" Little Tim laughed. "So, Kate, was it? Where ya' from?" I finally looked up from my sneakers and smiled a little at Little Tim. "I'm from Fiore. I came here to become a Pokemon Ranger." I introduced. "And she's gonna be a great one, I'll tell you that now Little Tim." Keith smiled at me. My heart skipped a beat, and I smiled heartwarmingly.

"Well, I run a small dairy farm in Veintown. You should visit one of these days. Well, I'll be seeing you later!" Little Tim signed off. "Little Tim's really nice." I said, as Keith and I watched him leave. "Yeah, he is." Keith replied. Then a thought occurred to me. "Keith, we're running late!" I exclaimed suddenly. "Eh, you got a point!" Keith stammered. We stashed away our stylers and made way for the gate when Ms. April called out to us.

"Kate! Keith!" Keith and I literally used our heels as breaks to make us stop from running out of the yard. "Yes, Ms. April?" I asked, agitation in my voice. I turned around slowly, the same with Keith. She walked over to us and said, "I saw you help Little Tim with your captures. I'm impressed. Plus, instead of competing with each other like usual, you're cooperating. That's how real Rangers work," she smiled at us.

She winked at us and we headed off to Veintown in a rush, but we were happy. We got to the bridge and saw a little girl just standing there in the middle, looking around as if she were lost. Keith and I walked over to her, wondering what was going on. "Hey, little girl, are you okay?" I asked her as Keith and I neared her. She turned to us frantically. "I-I came to see him but…I came to see my onii-chan, but he's not here…" she nearly started crying. Keith looked at me, mentally asking _What do we do?_ I looked around the bride myself, and saw that no one else had appeared during our very small conversation. I turned back to the girl and asked her, "You're looking for you big brother? Well, if you would mind telling me, who is that?"

Suddenly, Ponte came from behind us. "Hey, Kate, Keith. Who's that?" he called out to us as he came closer. Then, Isaac came into the picture. He was about to greet me and Keith until he saw the little girl. "Melody?" he mumbled under his breath, as if the gears were whirring in his brain. Then he exclaimed, "Melody! What are you doing here?" Suddenly, the girl became cheerful again and smiled cutely. "Onii-chan!" she cried out before running straight into Isaac for a hug. "No way…" Keith mumbled.

"Isaac, that girl's your little sister?" I exclaimed.

Isaac let go of the little girl and smiled. "Yeah, this is my little sister, Melody," he introduced. He then looked down to her and scolded, "Melody, I told you not to leave Pueltown by yourself!" Melody looked at her brother apologetically. "I'm sorry, onii-chan. But I wanted to see you," she said sweetly. She was like a little angel, her looks and her voice, and the way she acted it wasn't that Amy wasn't like this, it was just that she could be more annoying. "Melody, you're still my little sister, so I worry about you a lot. But, I'll let it slip this once. Now, let's go home. By Kate, Keith, Ponte!" and with that, Isaac disappeared off the bridge with his younger sister in hand. "Well, wasn't that sweet?" Ponte, Keith and I said simultaneously.

Ponte soon left to follow Isaac, which left me and Keith on the bridge. "Dammit," I muttered, as we started running across the bridge. "There are too many distractions today!" Keith laughed. "Well, nothing was ever perfect for us," he said to me as we ran. We finished crossing the bridge and got to Veintown sooner than we thought we would get there. Sure, we nearly fell over each other when we came to a sudden turn, and Keith tripped over a Buneary which tried to pummel him to death-he calmed it down by capturing it, duh-but we were safe and unharmed…for now.

We dropped onto our butts in front of the Veintown base's door. The place looked really cool-being small and quiet, but looking to have a certain liveliness to it. "Well, let's go inside." I said, panting. Keith got up and helped me to stand. "I'm really nervous," he muttered, looking down. "My heart's racing." I looked at him, and my arm automatically moved to his chest. I stood there like that for a moment, my hand feeling his pulse, before I had enough sense to snap back to reality. "S-Sorry!" I exclaimed, feeling suddenly flustered. "It's okay," Keith smiled. We hesitated for a moment. "A-Are you nervous too?" he asked me quietly. "Who wouldn't be?" I laughed. And with that, we walked in.

It was brilliant-lining the ground that met with the wall was a small river-like thing that circled around. In one corner, there were a bunch of screens and computers, and a small desk that was cluttered with paper and other technical junk sitting there silently, on its own big spot of tiles. In the corner parallel to that, there was a desk that had a recharger near it, and a big screen behind it, along with the flooring looking like grass-except for the tile spot-and a big door in the back of the room. "Hello?" I called out. It sounded like my voice echoed, I'm sure of it.

The place was freaking empty. "Anyone here? We're here for our 1-day internships from the Ranger School!" Keith called out. There was a bump, the sound of paper falling, and a yelp before we finally heard, "Oh, sorry. I was crouched down, so I didn't see anyone walk in!" I sweatdropped with Keith. Couldn't she hear us? Anyway, we walked over to the counter, where a lady was just standing there, smiling at us. "You're an Operator?" I asked, finding it cool to actually meet one. "Yup!" the lady responded cheerily. "Well now, I understand you're here for 1-day internships?" she asked. I nodded. "I'm Keith, and this here's Kate." Keith introduced.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," she told us. I smiled at her, "Same here." "My name's Rosey. Now, you're probably wondering where everyone is, right?" she asked. Keith and I nodded. "Well, there was this huge incident where this herd of Bidoof-Oh, I can't bring myself to say it!" Rosey said. "But anyway, our Leader left you this letter, 'Welcome to the both of you!'" she started. " 'Here's a mission from the get-go!'" and she went on. I kind of didn't listen, as I started dozing off. I never did like it when people would talk for long periods of time, and when I heard Rosey say, "There ya go!" I looked over to her and Keith to see them exchanging some parcel.

"Well now, good luck!" she told us. We smiled and walked out of the building, and once we reached outside I asked, "So, what are we doing?" Keith sweatdropped. "You weren't listening, we're you?" I shook my head as in 'no'. Keith laughed. "Well, the leader wants us to deliver this parcel to 'em at Breeze Hill. We can't tip it over, flip it or any of that kinda stuff, got it?" he explained to me. I nodded, and started walking. But once I passed one house, I asked Keith, "Where's Breeze Hill?"

"Just follow me," he said, walking off in another direction. We walked along this path that was on the west side of the town, and came to some steps. Getting off the steps, we were on some beach. "This is Nabiki Beach." Keith told me. We walked along the beach, and saw a couple sitting in the sand, laughing. We came to another staircase, and climbed it to see an old man talking to a Munchlax, a Pachirisu, and a Starly. He noticed us as the Pokemon got closer to him an smiled. "From the way you're dressed, I'm gonna guess you're students from the Ranger School on their 1-day internships?" he guessed.

"Well, let me quiz you then." Keith and I looked at each other, and nodded toward the old man. "Question number one. What's a Partner Pokemon?" he asked. Keith claimed prize of telling and said, "A Partner Pokemon is a Pokemon that is extra friendly to the Ranger and always goes with him or her." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, saying, "Easy!" I smiled at him, and looked back to the old man. He smiled. "Well, now, how about this one? Can a Ranger only have one Partner?" he asked. "Nope." I said quickly. Keith looked at me with a grin.

"Haha!" the man laughed with delight. "Well, you two sure are smart!" Keith and I smiled at him, and walked past. We came to yet another staircase and climbed them, Keith telling me, "Okay Kate, this is our entrance to Breeze Hill." "Can't wait to see all the Rangers!" I said to him, excited. He smiled at me, and once we got up the steps, we saw four people standing at the cliff talking together. Keith squinted his eyes at them and opened them back happily saying to me, "Isn't that Ranger Crawford from Outdoor Class?" I looked into the Rangers' direction, and indeed Crawford was there.

"Well, now, let's go!" I said, pulling Keith by the arm into their conversation. They didn't really notice us until Keith broke the ice by saying the stupidest thing ever. "H-Hellommetcha!" he called out nervously. I facepalmed at my friends failed attempt to even greet the Rangers. But, it did catch their attention. They all looked toward us, surprised. This buff, strong looking man with tanned skin came toward us, a Makuhita behind him.

"Did I just hear you say 'hellomeetcha?'" he snickered. "You're nervous aren't you?" He laughed. "Name's Barlow. Nice to meet ya'!"

Keith stood there and looked at the guy. He was kinda muscle-y, and only a little shorter then Crawford. "Hello." I said, breaking the idiotic silence. "I'm Kate. And this is Keith." I guestered to the two of us. Crawford peeked up at the sounds of our names from his Budew, and smiled at the sight of us. "Leader, these are the two that we have for 1-day internships?" he asked.

"Yup."

Crawford started grinning like crazy. "These are the two I was talking about earlier guys. Ya know, the seeing the future thing?" he looked at his teammates eagerly. I facepalmed, muttering to Keith, "What a nice way to start off this internship…" He nodded in approval.

**Hika-chan and Kate-*Sitting in the meeting room, drinking coffee.***

**Rythmi-*Burst through the door, covered in feathers, glue, and some weird stuff* WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN?**

**Hika-chan-Right here. We've been watching this chapter while you and Mizu went to look for Keith.**

**Rythmi-*sweatdrop* W-Well, you see...I kinda lost Mizu while we were in Greece...**

**Mizu-*Comes through door holding an unconscious Keith by the collar*Found him.**

**Kate and Rythmi-What the hell happened?**

**Hika-chan-*Inspects him with a magnifying glass she got out of nowhere* Shinji...*devious flash in eyes* R&R PLEASE! :D**


	7. Message To Meh Readers

Hika-chan-NYOLAH PEOPLES! Sorry for my huuuge absence, but I've been going through some crappy stuff for the past few weeks. _

Mizu-Many, many things have happened to her.

Hika-chan-So, yeah. This is to apologize for that. If I don't upload three new super long chapters for you guys by Monday for both Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia and Poptropica: A New Life, then…do something about it? *sweatdrop*

Mizu-This idiot…you're forgetting to mention your name…

Hika-chan-WAHHH! I almost forgot! My nickname has always been 'Hika-chan', but I developed an unknown reason of which you will not know (HA-HA) to put my full fake name as my FanFiction and FictionPress name.

Mizu-Baka, you're forgetting to tell them that your name is now Hikari Kurokaze.

Hika-chan-Ohhhh, yeah. *whistles and turns away* Yeah, by the ways for me Pokemon Ranger readers, I kinda added more to Chapter 6, because that wasn't the whole thing!~ Sooo, bye-bye peoples!~


	8. Chapter 7

**Hika-chan-YAAAAY! Winter break! *happy dance***

**Mizu-Shush, I'm trying to read here.**

**Kate-Happy holidays everyone!**

**Keith-Go ahead and tell 'em what happened to me!**

**Hika-chan-*clears throat* Weeeel, apparently, my brother Shinjuku thought it would be nice if he played a joke on our buddy Keith...**

**Rythmi-*sigh* Hika-chan doesn't own Pokemon or Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Almia  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Barlow looked at Crawford for a moment, confused, then a look of understanding came over his face. "Oh! Those kids!" he looked over at us and smiled, "Well, where's the parcel? There is important stuff in there." I nudged Keith, who was being a nervous wreck, and he fumbled with the parcel. "Eh?" The parcel was about to slip out of his hands, and I immediately dived for it.<p>

Sure, I got grass stains on my uniform, which I was definitely going to get a scolding about from a few people, but I saved the parcel. I stretched my hands up to Barlow, who had a surprised look on his face like everyone else on Breeze Hill. I smiled sheepishly as Barlow took the parcel and set it out on the big blanket that was spread out.

A big picnic blanket…Wait a second…

Barlow smiled and opened up the parcel to reveal tons of delicious looking food. Keith drooled a bit, and I kicked him in the shin. "Keith!" I whispered to him. "Get a hold of yourself! And look," I pointed to the basket. "They have us delivering their damned food!" Keith, seeing I was extremely pissed off at that time, sweatdropped and looked over to the Rangers.

"U-Uh, could you please explain this to us?" he asked, his voice being a bit more firm. Crawford smiled. "Well…" he dragged on. I stared daggers at Crawford, and he gulped. "Well, you see, it's a tradition for us at the base that whenever the 1-day internships come along, we pretend we're out on an extremely important mission. Then, our operator gives the students a parcel which has our food in it, and we prank 'em when they come. It's rather funny to see their expressions…"

The girl who was standing next to Crawford, who I remembered to be Luana, looked at me. "Well, Crawford, I don't think Kate looks too happy…"she trailed off. Crawford sweatdropped. Luana laughed, and she continued. "But I remember when I had to do this same thing, in fact, it was only last year! I kept swinging the parcel around as I skipped here, so the food was all mushy!" Crawford and her laughed at the memory.

The girl to my right sighed, "Yeah, and it tasted horrible…Well, hi, I'm Elaine." She held out her hand to me, and I shook it. "I'm the Mechanic for the Vientown base. Nice to meet you two." I smiled faintly, and Keith said, "Same here."

Barlow laughed, "I'm guessing we all know each other now, so why don't we start eating?" Everyone cheered and dug into the picnic. Keith and I looked at each other, ad sat down. I sighed. "Geez, I don't want to just sit down and eat for my 1-day internship…" I trailed off silently. Keith gave me a soft smile, "C'mon, I'm sure that something will happen!"

Well, he was absolutely right. After about five minutes of eating and talk, a guy who I think I saw on the beach came running toward us. "Rangers! Rangers!" he cried out. Barlow dropped his drumstick in Crawford's hair as he ran to the man and asked, "What's up?" in a serious tone. All I could say at the moment was, "He ain't getting that drumstick back anytime soon." Keith snickered.

The guy calmed down a little bit, but rushed his sentence. "My girlfriend and I were at the beach, when suddenly, these Pokemon started circling around her! I think they might be scared because a huge cargo chip passed by!" Barlow nodded and looked back at us. "C'mon, screw lunch, we're on a mission!" He ran ahead with the guy trailing behind him. Luana and Elaine made their way with them, and as Crawford followed he called, "Keith, Kate, you come too!"

Keith stood up quickly and grabbed my hand. "Let's go Kate! I told you something was going to happen!" and he dragged me back to the beach.

We ended up watching the girl screaming for help for a while as Elaine analyzed what was going on. "They're usually very nice Pokemon! I don't know what's wrong with them!" cried the old man that me and Keith ran into on our way to Breeze Hill earlier. "Well, this is it. Crawford and I will catch the Shellos, and Kate, Keith, and Luana will catch the other Pokemon!" Barlow announced. Luana and Crawford took out their stylers and nodded. "Roger that."

"Wait a second!" I exclaimed. Barlow looked back at me. "Me and Keith get to help too?" I asked slowly. Barlow smiled. "Yeah, we're gonna need some help here. You two know how to capture properly right?" he asked.

"Of course! We're the best at captures in the whole school!" Keith boasted. But, it was most definitely true. I looked at Keith and smirked. We took out our stylers and we all set out to the scene, but I heard the old man talking. I stopped half way down the stairs to listen to him. "Please save them." I turned back to him and smiled. "Of course!"

I ran to the beach, and saw Barlow and Crawford halfway through their captures. Luana was freaking out and hadn't even started yet, and Keith had smoothly started his capture on a Starly. I looked at the last Pokemon left for capture, a Pachirisu. I gulped and set out my styler and muttered under my breath, "Capture on." Within a quick minute, I caught the Pachirisu. The capture was a little rough though, as the thing kept on trying to electrocute my capture line.

I gasped for air as I finished the capture. My arm was terribly sore. "Damn…" I flinched. As Keith and the others finished their captures, the girl ran back to her boyfriend and clung to him. "Thank you!" the couple exclaimed happily.

Luana smiled sweetly, "No problem! It's our job to help out!" Barlow laughed heartedly again as Elaine said, "No damage has been done, and all Pokemon have been safely caught!" "Mission clear!" Barlow said, and he and the other two Rangers did their poses. I looked at Keith, and we had the same idea. We quickly made up our own poses, and performed them. "Hey, nice poses guys!" Crawford said to us happily. I felt my cheeks warm, and I smiled.

"Well, set the Pokemon free now everyone!"

Keith and the others said good bye to the Pokemon they caught, but I didn't. I was staring at the Pachirisu, and it kept staring back at me. Barlow looked confused. "Oi, Kate, didn't you learn how to set a Pokemon free?" I nodded quickly. "It's just…I don't want to set it free yet." Keith walked over to me and the Pachirisu and bent down to look at it.

"It won't take its eyes off of you Kate." Keith mumbled. "Could it be that you've grown attached to each other?" Crawford asked in general. "But student Rangers can't have Partner Pokemon!" Luana said sadly. I furrowed my brow and looked to Barlow. "It's true guys. But listen, maybe you two will meet again?" he suggested. I sighed, "Yeah, I guess…" I then released the little Pachirisu, and it walked away slowly. Keith looked at me, noticing my behavior.

He stood up and patted me on my head. Warmth flushed my cheeks, and I backed away flustered. "W-What was that for?" I asked. He laughed. "You had a really awesome capture Kate, you looked real graceful too!" he complimented me. "T-Thanks!" I stuttered out. "Well then, we should probably get going, it's getting dark." Barlow said, looking to the sky. "True, buy don't forget Leader, we have to clean up the picnic!" Crawford smiled.

Barlow nodded. "Well, Kate, Keith, go on ahead. We'll clean it up." We nodded and headed back to the base.

An hour later, Barlow and the others came back. "Well, the rest of the sandwiches have been cleared." Crawford laughed. I sweatdropped, and Barlow began talking. "There's nothing else on the agenda, so we have to say bye now."

"Don't forget those awesome captures today guys!" Luana winked at us. Crawford laughed, "It would be epic if you guys could be assigned to this base. Then we'd have you delivering our lunch all the time." "Keith, Kate, Crawford was really looking forward to this day. He kept on saying he might be able to see these two students again." Elaine prodded her chin innocently, smiling.

I blushed and looked down at my feet. Keith smiled at everyone. "Thanks so much guys!" he exclaimed. I looked up and smirked, "I don't think we'll be forgetting this experience anytime soon." "Thanks again, and bye!" he and I said in unison.

We turned around, and were about to go through the door when it whizzed open. Me and Keith moved back to the sides, and watched as an old man with a really long beard and a cane walked in. "Ah, what have we here? A gathering?" the geezer asked. He looked back at Keith and I, and raised an eyebrow. "Hmn, what have we here? Ranger school students! Oh yes, today is your 1-day internships!" he said. "Come to think of it, we had a girl come to the Ranger Union saying she wanted to be an Operator. If I recall correctly, her name was…Misery. Yes." The old guy nodded, satisfied. Keith and I sweatdropped.

"He's definitely talking about Ryth…" I trailed off.

"Well, I have now memorized your faces!" he exclaimed out of nowhere. "I hope I will have the opportunity to work with you two in the future!" With that, Keith and I walked out the door. I sighed, and smiled at Keith. "Wow, just, wow!" I exclaimed.

Keith nodded as we started walking. "Yeah, today was really cool! Hey, wait a second." He stopped walking and looked around. "Didn't Ms. April say we could go visit your family in Chicole Village?" Keith wondered. My face lit up. "Which way is it Keith?" I asked quickly. He grabbed my arm and led me out south. "Let me show you!" he said happily, as I blushed.

Sometime later, we reached a small village that only had four houses, and a big plain. "Do you know which house they're living in?" I looked around, and sweatdropped. "N-No…" Keith sighed. "Let's ask around then." We then walked to the nearest house and asked where the newest residents were living. We were directed to the house that was closest to the plain. I knocked on the door, and a little girl opened up. We stared at each other a moment, before I was tackled to the ground in a hug. "Onee-chan!" she yelled out. "Eh, A-Amy, get off me!" I yelled at her, laughing.

Keith stood there looking at my sister and I, smiling. Then, my mom and dad came out of the house. Amy finally let go of me, and I stood up, brushing off my uniform. Tears started swelling up in my mom's eyes. "Oh, mom, please-" I was smothered in a bear hug. "Oh my baby is back!" she cried. She let go of me after a few minutes of my dad convincing her that I wasn't able to breathe. I straightened myself up and said, "Hi." I smiled. My dad walked over to me and patted me on the back.

"Looks like you've been working hard Kate!" I nodded, smiling. My little sister smiling and tugged on my shirt. "What is it Amy?" I asked her. She pointed to Keith. "Who's that?" Keith pointed at himself, his face a question mark. "Yeah, who is this?" my dad asked. "Oh, this is one of my best friends, Keith!" I introduced. Keith held out his hand, "Nice to meet you all!" he said nervously. My dad shook hands with him, and my mom watched him carefully. "Best friend?"

Keith and I nodded.

"Hmnnn…" my mother trailed off. I sweatdropped. "Shouldn't you be at school?" my dad asked. "Actually, today is 1-day internship day at school. Keith and I got paired up to go to the base in Vientown!" I said happily. "Oh, sounds fun!" my mom clapped her hands. "Yeah, it was!" Keith and I said in unison. We looked at each other and laughed. "Ne, come inside!" Amy said cheerily.

We all went inside and had a seat. Kate, Keith, would you like anything to drink?" my mom asked us. "Nah." I replied. "No thank you, dinner's gonna be starting soon at school…" Keith said. "Dinner…Keith we gotta go!" I exclaimed. I stood up abruptly. Amy started whining. "Why? When will you come again?" she pouted. Keith stood up with me. "Any, if we don't go back now, we'll be in a lot of trouble. I'll come visit again after graduation. That's in a week!" I winked at her. Keith eyes the clock. "Kate…!" he nudged me. "Bye everyone! See you next week!" And Keith and I ran out. We ran through the small village, through Vientown, and finally took a breather at the bridge.

"Whoo hoo, wannabe Rangers!" came a familiar voice. Keith and I turned around to see Rythmi running toward us. "Ryth!" I exclaimed. "How was your internship guys?" she asked. Keith and I glanced at each other. "Can't say." Keith crossed his arms, smirking. "Top secret info. We can say this though, we were set on a mission from the get-go!" I said. Rythmi pouted at us. "Oh you guys are no fun!" she laughed as we started walking toward the school.

"So, how was _your_ internship?" Keith asked. "It was great! The only downside was that Professor Hastings kept calling me 'Misery'!" Ryth exclaimed. I giggled as Keith muttered, "We heard." "You say something Keith?" Ryth asked innocently. "Oh, he said nothing Ryth!" I said, waving her off. We smiled and ran the rest of the way to the school.

At dinner, we all talked about what we did in our internships, and everyone kept egging me and Keith to tell them what we did. But like was had said, it was top secret information.

* * *

><p><strong>Hika-chan-And THATS why Keith was found unconscious in Russia.<strong>

**SoA Cast-*stares* How'd you conclude that?**

**Mizu-Hikari's brother likes the cake we have, so she bribed him into telling.**

**Keith-*vein bulge* Lemme at that damned brat!**

**Kate and Rythmi-*major sigh* R&R pleasssh!  
><strong>


End file.
